PROJECTS
IN THE DEEP BLUE YONDER
In the sparkling, blue Mediterranean sea, and in perfect keeping with
the Grecian landscape, two hotels were built using only high quality
construction materials and finishes
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A
part from being the largest island in Greece, Crete is also the most southerly island in Europe, with the fifth largest surface area in the entire
Mediterranean sea. The most important city, Iraklion, is situated at the centre of the northern end of the island, where tourism has developed the most, while
the southern and western parts of the island remain completely unspoiled.
Two operations in the hotel sector are described in this article; a completely new
hotel complex and renovation of an existing hotel.
Blue Palace Resort&Spa
Photo 1.
IDROSILEX PRONTO was
applied to waterproof the
external vertical surfaces.
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The terracotta-coloured stone walls,
palm trees, olive groves and the bright
blue of the 142 private swimming pools
and of the Mediterranean sea are distinguishing features of the Blue Palace
Resort & Spa.
The hotel is situated on the island of
Crete, and apart from the beauty typical of Greece, offers its clients high
quality building materials and finishes.
Built recently, the complex is to be
found perched in a dominating position on the side of a hill with a breathtaking view of the charming island of
Spinalonga with its Venetian fortress,
and is approximately 500 metres from
the village of Plaka. The Blue Palace
has various types of accommodation
available: some of them are in the central section of the hotel, others are in
bungalows immersed in the woodland,
while others are in three separate vil-
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3
las in a secluded spot in the grounds
of the hotel. All the rooms – each one
has its own exclusive style and specially-created décor inspired by the
surrounding nature – are characterised
by prestigious furnishings and finishes,
with large terraces which directly overlook the bay and, above all, except for
a few of the bungalows, all the rooms
have their own private swimming pool
whose borders seem to blend into the
sea on the horizon.
And to finish, the hotel also has a spa
and a thalassotherapy centre.
tar was recommended to waterproof
the external vertical surfaces. It is composed of cement binders and special
waterproofing additives, and is applied
on perfectly clean, solid walls which
must be thoroughly soaked with water
beforehand. For the inside of the bungalows, PLANICRETE synthetic rubber
latex diluted with water was added
to the mix made of sand and cement
for the screeds. Adding this latex to
the mix improves its bond to the substrate and its mechanical strength. The
work continued by smoothing over the
internal substrate to make the floor
perfectly flat and level before laying the
final covering material, and ULTRAPLAN
ultra-fast hardening, self-levelling,
smoothing compound was chosen for
this operation.
The living area was then laid with Italian
granite slabs measuring 60x60 cm.
Created for the Most Demanding
Client
A further wing was added to the bungalows last year, and Mapei took part in
this project by supplying a wide range
of products through their local retailer.
IDROSILEX PRONTO cementitious mor-
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Photos 2, 3 and 4.
Before laying the various covering
materials, the substrates in the
bungalows were smoothed over with
ULTRAPLAN to make them perfectly
flat. Granite slabs were laid in the
living areas with ULTRAFLEX S2
MONO adhesive and the joints were
grouted with KERACOLOR FF.
ULTRAFLEX S2 MONO one-component
cementitious adhesive was used to
bond the granite.
This product is ideal for bonding stone
slabs and ceramic tiles on internal and
external surfaces, is highly deformable
(class S2 according to EN 12002 standards), has no vertical slip, an extended
open time, is easy to apply with a trowel and has a high yield.
ULTRAFLEX S2 MONO also helps to
reduce the noise caused by footsteps, a
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PROJECTS
5
Photo 5.
Parquet was laid in place
in the sleeping area using
ADESILEX PA synthetic
resin-based adhesive.
Photos 6, 7 and in the
background.
Each bungalow has its
own private swimming
pool. KERACOLOR FF
+FUGOLASTIC was used to
grout the joints for higher
resistance to abrasion and
lower water absorption.
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7
characteristic which is quite important
in hotel rooms.
KERACOLOR FF high performance
cementitious mortar was then used to
grout the tile joints. The use of special
hydrophobic additives (DropEffect®
technology) allows for tile joints which
are highly water repellent, making
them less prone to dirtiness and with
excellent durability.
The same products – ULTRAFLEX S2
MONO and KERACOLOR FF – were also
used to lay the floors in the external
areas.
Parquet was instead chosen for the
floors in the sleeping area of the bungalows, and the wooden strips were
bonded in place using ADESILEX PA
synthetic resin-based adhesive.
Each bungalow has its own private
swimming pool.
KERACOLOR FF cementitious mortar
was also used in this case to grout
the tile joints on the pools’ surfaces. In
this case, however, KERACOLOR FF was
mixed with the additive FUGOLASTIC
instead of with water, to improve its
resistance to abrasion and to reduce its
porosity and water absorption.
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Mapei Products: the products mentioned in
this article belong to the “Products for Ceramic
Tiles and Stone Materials”, “Building Speciality
Line”, “Products for the Installation of Resilient,
Textile and Wood Floor and Wall Coverings”
ranges.
The technical data sheets are available at the
web site: www.mapei.com. Mapei’s adhesives
and grouts conform to EN 12004 and EN 13888
standards. Almost all the Mapei products for
laying floors and walls are also GEV-certified.
Mapei pre-blended mortars for screeds and
smoothing and leveling compounds conform
to standard EN 13813 and have been awarded
the CE mark in compliance with Annex ZA,
standard EN 13813.
Adesilex PA: adhesive based on synthetic
resins in alcohol for bonding wooden flooring.
Fugolastic: liquid polymeric additive for
Keracolor FF, Keracolor GG and Keracolor SF.
Idrosilex Pronto: cementitious mortar for
waterproofing underground masonry and for
structures containing also drinking water.
Keracolor FF (CG2, EC1R): high performance,
polymer-modified, water-repellent, cementbased grout with DropEffect® technology for
joints up to 6 mm.
Planicrete: synthetic-rubber latex for
cementitious mortars for improving bonding
and mechanical strength.
Ultraflex S2 Mono (C2TES2): one component,
easy to apply, high flexibility, high performance
cementitious adhesive with no vertical slip,
extended open time and extremely high yield
for ceramic tiles and stone material.
Ultraplan (EC1, CE): ultra-fast hardening selflevelling smoothing compound for thicknesses
from 1 to 10 mm.
TECHNICAL DATA
Blue Palace Resort&Spa, Plaka, Crete (Greece)
Designer: Stylianides Engineering
Period of Construction: 2006-2007
Intervention by Mapei: waterproofing the
bungalows’ vertical external surfaces, applying
screeds on internal surfaces, smoothing
substrates, laying and grouting granite slabs in
the living area, laying parquet in the bedrooms,
grouting tiles in the pools’ surfaces
Period of Intervention: 2006-2007
Client: Plaka A.t.
Mapei Distributor: Kafousis
Mapei Coordinators: Ioannis Koropoulis
(Mapei Hellas) and Fabio Fenech (Mapei SpA)